You can spend a lot of money on the most expensive large screen TVs, but you will never get the true cinematic experience without a dedicated surround sound installation. It does not matter what brand or how advanced the TV is – most TVs these days are so thin that there’s really no room for a decent speaker. If you really want the best audio immersion, you want a dedicated speaker setup.
But before you go out and buy the first high end audio system you find on the shop, there are a few things you need to consider first, such as:
The Surround Sound Installation Itself
One of the most important considerations in a surround sound installation is the type of system itself. You can either buy an inclusive or a packaged system, or you can buy components separately. It is generally easier if you get a professional installer like Digital Integration to handle the procurement, as they will know exactly what your setup needs, where to get it, and how to get it in the cheapest price that the market will permit.
If you are still adamant on purchasing the parts on your own, you need to do it in order:
- Start with the surround sound receiver
- Followed by the speakers and the satellite speakers (if needed)
- Then the speaker mounts
The reason for this order is that it will allow you to tailor the succeeding purchases according to what’s compatible with the previous part. If you start with the speaker mounts, there is a chance that you could end up buying speakers that don’t fit in the mounts, and you could also end up buying sound receivers that are not compatible with the speakers you bought previously.
The Location of the Surround Sound Installation
There is some room for variations with regard to the location of the speakers. But the most appropriate location for the central speakers in a surround system installation is directly above or below the TV. The left and right front speakers are ideally placed 5 to 10 feet on the left and right sides of the TV. The last left and right speakers need to be placed behind the left and right of your seat/viewing location.
Running the Wires Through the Walls
Unless you want your home theater setup to look like a mess of tangled wires, you need some way to hide all the components’ wires. Ideally, you need to make an outline in the wall behind the location of the receiver, particularly a location with no studs. Small holes should be cut in it and used to run the wire through. Unless you have a background in projects like this, it is best to leave it to a professional home theater installation company.
Finishing the Installation
You would think that the finishing parts of a surround sound installation are the easiest, but it is the part where you have to pay close attention to what you are doing. There are a few things you can do to ease the process: to make the wires tidy, yet still easily accessible if needed, you can have a low-voltage cut-in box and run the speaker wires through them. Then hide them with a cover plate with a 2 inch hole.
Another part that results in do-overs is wrong positioning of the speakers. In order to avoid this part, you can strip the speaker wire a little bit, then connect it to a 9 volt battery. The connection will generate a clicking sound, which should help show you which speaker is which.
At the end of the day, you really shouldn’t try to DIY your way out of a surround sound installation, even if you’re just adding the surround speaker system. Contact Digital Integration and we will gladly lend you our years of expertise in home audio and video installation. Call us now and we will give you a FREE quotation.